Nick Barham on the Chinese Middle Class at PSFK Conference Asia 2008

At the PSFK Conference Asia 2008, Nick Barham (Wieden Kennedy, Shanghai) explores the anxiety, opportunity and extravagance of the Chinese middle class.  Deliberately not speaking about the “Olympics, the Dali Lama, Tibet, the earthquake, their amazing economic growth, or all the reason why the West is scared or worried about China growing,” Nick focuses on the aspirations of China’s middle class and the broader social changes that are happening at that level.

Noting that the number of new credit cards issued in China jumped from 3 million in 2003 to 90 million in 2007, Nick describes how the middle class are embracing the growing pains of achieving their middle class dream.  He explains how the word “nu,” which literally means slave, has been re-appropriated by white-collar middle class individuals to refer to themselves – people, who through credit card payments, mortgages, and car payments, use the term in a positive light to assert control over their life and associate themselves with this growing middle class.

He also discusses how the middle class are ‘under pressure.’ both on a city level, due to the shear number of inhabitants and the speed at which that’s growing, but how the people themselves are also under growing pressure to perform and keep up with all the changes that are occurring.

Tickets are now available for our next conference: Good Ideas Salon London. The event will take place on 30th January 2009 and will be held at the Guardian’s new eco-friendly headquarters. For tickets and more information, go to www.goodideassalons.com.